utility obfuscation and obstruction [RE-wrenches]

Joel Davidson joeldavidson at earthlink.net
Sun May 12 23:31:03 PDT 2002


My apologies. I left out the word California. It is against the California net
metering law for a utility company to even ask a homeowner about insurance. The
California net metering law went into effect January 1, 1996. On January 1, 1998 the
revised law went into effect. The revision cleaned up some language, switched billing
from monthly to annual, stopped utilities from charging money, double metering, and
other obstructionist activities.

sunwise at cheqnet.net wrote:

> Joel Davidson wrote:
> >
> > It is against the net metering law for a utility company to even ask a homeowner
> > about insurance.
>
> Sorry Joel, I think I'm going to have to disagree with you here.
>
> WI is one of the net metering States without verbage written into it
> that makes the insurance issue mute.  Right now most Utilities in WI
> reguire at least 300K liability with written documentation.
>
> The big deal I have seen with those who pursue liability insurance in WI
> is that some insurance companies won't even carry the liability coverage
> under the standard home-owner's policy.  They claim that "by entering
> into this contractual agreement with Y-utility, you are no longer
> operating as simply a home-owner and need to purchase a comercial
> insurance policy".  Such an expense is usually the final nail in coffin
> of the grid-tie PV system.
>
> In part this is why you have periodically heard me speaking about the
> efficiencies of grid/utility hybrid systems rather than utility
> inter-tie systems.  You don't have to buy an insurance policy to power
> your home's load fron the sun, and automatic transfer switches, staged
> and based on solar gain and battery SOC, can make it pretty easy and
> efficient.
>
> An SW in LBX and use of the AUX relays (or Choice E-Meter) and a DT
> power relay to take the home's loads on/off the solar/grid based on
> battery SOC.  Interesting to note that an SW in LBX doesn't require
> anthing from a utility and yet it is only a button push away from a
> grid-tie.
>
> So, such a system looks like this .... the sun comes up and the Frig
> comes onto the solar.  As voltage/SOC comes up even farther, the freezer
> comes on to solar, evening comes along and the freezer drops off to the
> grig.  The grid power fails and these critical loads all come back to
> solar/battery.
>
> When I have "spoke" about this in the past, there was little interest.
> I wonder is this was because insurance isn't an issue in most States and
> therefore using the utility as a battery is the best bet.
>
> Most of the grid-ties I have installed had a battery component (they
> want back-up power).  If this is the case, LBX and staged loads may be a
> better deal than grid-tie.
>
> Let me also say that one of the great things about Wisconsin is that
> their renewable energy programs, funded through "Focus on Energy",
> includes off-grid systems, even though they are funded through the
> utilities.
>
> Kurt Nelson
>
> - - - -
> To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com
>
> Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
>
> List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm
>
> Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
>
> Hosted by Home Power magazine
>
> Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
>

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette: http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

==^================================================================
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================





More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list